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Everything posted by wgallois
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Thanks for the Drewe Arms tip Marc. It is exactly as you describe it. Had a fantastic onion tarte tatin (for 2) there the other night.
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Much, much better meal at Michael Caines the other week. Everything was so much more carefully done than on our last meal: in terms of preparation of dishes, service and the range of dishes on offer. Best dish was probably wet polenta with wild mushrooms, though petits fours were also excellent.
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Have fun Trixy and have a look at the other Dubai/Sharjah threads (on Verre, Burj al Arab etc.) on here, if you haven't already. Feel free to PM me if you need any info on bars, souks, deserts etc!
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Just been for the first time, and I would certainly agree that it is a place of hits and misses. The bread is indeed really excellent and I had a lot of it over the evening as I spent half an hour using sourdough to soak up aperitifs whilst we waited for friends, had fried barley bread with my starter, and then a crusty roll was served with my mains. Service was really good throughout and I really enjoyed the wine (no idea what it was). Had a starter of labneh (with black onion seeds) and pickles, which was tasty, and then the only main available to vegetarians: 'Seven Moroccan Salads'. I felt rather resentful regarding this dish as it was mediocre and, at £15, it was only £1 less than the meat and fish mains. I had cooked a number of the salads in the dish from the Moro cookbook, which is excellent, but their versions in the restaurant were rather more lifeless than the ones I had made myself. There was a cold new potato in the middle of the dish. I am not sure if this counted as one of the seven... Pudding was a blood orange sorbet, which was OK. In between courses we ordered some pimenton almonds and olives which were sensationally good. Overall I enjoyed the place and will probably go back, but with a smart plan to graze at the bar and to remember that fellow egulleteers had already recommended sticking to the the tapas and the smaller dishes.
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The Savoy Cabbage in Cape Town is exceptionally good. See also earlier threads on this board about South African vineywards.
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On the subject of Shaun Hill books, his 'Quick and Easy Vegetable Cookery' (1993) is great. It looks, and perhaps sounds, a bit cheesy, but the recipes are all winners. His 'Courgette Risotto with Parmesan Chese Sauce' has restored my faith in my ability to produce a risotto that is not a grim, numbing stodge-fest. The recipes are all simple, but often contain a small trick or technique that allows you to elevate a quick supper to a really good meal. £5.99 new, or from £1.99 used, on Amazon.
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A recent discovery is the cafe at the Estorick Collection which serves simple, well-made and relatively cheap Italian food. I imagine it must be a nice spot for lunch on the terrace in summer. http://www.estorickcollection.com/
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One real find and one dud on our short visit: The find - Nona weinrestaurant, Grunewaldstr. 10, Schoeneberg. A very good neighbourhood restaurant with, as its name suggests, a real emphasis on wine. We began with a wine soup (unusual and satisfying) and a kind of Provencal bake of sheep's cheese, tomatoes, onion and thyme (not unlike eating the topping from a pizza, and none the worse for that). We both had cheese-stuffed dumplings as a main. These were surrounded by piles of fried onions and definitely satisfied our need for hearty and tasty Mitteleuropean fare. We had a satisfying Riesling from the extensive wine list and, with a couple of Berliner Pilseners to start the evening off, the bill (with tip) was a very reasonable 50 Euros. The dud: Opernpalais on Unter den Linden. This flash cafe complex comes much recommended by many guides, though this may have more to do with its location and past than the service it actually offers today. We may have ordered badly but I was distinctly unimpressed with our food, the low point of which was a mozzarella and tomato panini which was very cold in the middle (could it really have come from a freezer?!) The cakes look nice but the nusstorte and the marzipantorte we shared were not that great, and my overriding impression was that the whole place was more about style than substance. The service was poor.
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Thanks a lot Shiewie. My sister-in-law and her family live in KL, so we'll certainly be back soon. She's also vegetarian so any tips on vegetarian eating-out in KL would be much appreciated by her in the short-term and me in the, I hope, not-too-distant-future.
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Thanks for all the tips and flavour contributed by all those who have written on this thread. Your comments really whetted my appetite before travelling to KL, and provided lots of good leads when I got there. I took only sketchy notes whilst visiting KL, so my comments are rather general. KL is surely one of the world's great food cities, as many others have noted, not only because of the huge variety of foods on offer, and the generally very high quality of dishes, but also because eating out is relatively democratic in that the best food is often found at relatively-cheap hawker stalls This was really brought home to me at the SS2 night market in PJ which has a large number of hawker stalls interspersed between the vegetable, clothes and DVD sellers. On one lap of the square I managed to sample some great Taiwanese pizza, some deep-fried mushrooms, lots of great juices and stand goggle-eyed in front of the amazing stalls selling meat and fish on skewers, ready to be boiled and then dipped in sauces. I could well imagine that you could go each week, slowly move around the square and have a sensational, and different, meal each week. I was also very impressed by the attitude towards vegetarians. There were of course lots of Indian vegetarian places, but there were also a fair number of Chinese vegetarian restaurants and places willing to create vegetarian versions of meat dishes using tofu and bean-curd. This meant that I got to try curry laksa, which I was very happy about. I am not at all 'well-eaten' in SE Asian food so there were lots of other happy firsts for me including Taiwanese bubble tea, cendol (sp?), ice cakang (sp?), jackfruit, kimchi, Penang curry, and 'real' Singapore noodles (but veggified!). Hope to go back soon and will definitely make more specific use of all the suggestions of egulleteers.
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Need some help locating a restaurant in Berlin. Had a mid-January reservation for Gugelhof but unfortunately they are closing for redecorations at that time. I am looking for somewhere that serves good German food with plenty of options for vegetarians, with a definite preference for somewhere traditional/cosy over somewhere modern and sleek. Any thoughts?
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Good: Indochine at the Grand Hyatt I have very little experience of Vietnamese food, so I do not feel very able to comment on the authenticity of the food at Indochine. That said, I think it is a very good restaurant and I would not be surprised if those with more experience of such cuisine felt that it did justice to Vietnamese food. Overall I was impressed by the level of care that went into all parts of the operation: cooking, quality of ingredients (very visible in the open kitchen), the nifty interior design (Oriental with futuristic back to the '20s touches, in keeping with the hotel in general), and the attentive service. The restaurant was almost empty, though I think this is more a reflection of the glut of hotel restaurants in Dubai. Standout dishes, for me, were the grilled aubergines and the morning glory with garlic. The Vietnamese beer was also excellent.
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Can't wait to see your aunt's pancake recipe Elie, and thanks for your thoughts about katayif.
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After quite a few years of making absolutely sure, I have realised that I do not really like baklava. Sudanese, Egyptian, Turkish, Lebanese, almond, peanut, no matter. However, at the same time that this thought was becoming clear I realised that I absolutely love basbousa (a syrupy semolina and coconut cake which is often served with selections of baklava). Any suggestions for great basbousa recipes and places to buy it? In the Emirates the best place is the French supermarket chain Carrefour who sell the juiciest, most luscious basbousa. [edited for sense]
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Four days into Ramadan and I find myself obsessed with Katayef, a deep-fried, nut-stuffed, syrup-y pastry that is often served as a pudding during this month. There are many different recipes available on books and on the net, and many variations from different parts of the Arab world, but let me offer rough instructions which come from a Jordanian friend: 1. Mix crushed equal amounts of crushed walnuts and dried coconut with half a teaspoon of cinammon and as much sugar as is to your taste. 2. Seal this mix inside fresh (must be bought or made that day) mini-pancakes, making sure that you seal the edges very conscientiously. 3. Drop the stuffed pastries into hot oil and cook until they are a deep brown. 4. Remove from oil and, before shaking off excess oil, drop into a pan of syrup (2 cups sugar to 1.5 cups water, plus 1 teaspoon rosewater, one teaspoon orange blossom water and a few drops of lemon juice). 5. Shake off excess syrup over pan and eat warm. Speaking to friends from across the Arab world it seems that there are many, many different versions of katayef, some of which are savoury. Cream seems to be a popular filling, though many different kinds of nuts are used. A Palestinian friend, who is a real katayef-head, has given me the name of his favourite bakery where they will make you a giant katayef 'pizza' on request (near Buhaira lagoon in Sharjah fyi). Such treats do not sit well with my attempts at dieting... More katayef info and enthusiasm much appreciated.
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While not a particularly pretty place, Acqualagna seemed like quite good place to buy truffles when we were in the Marche in the summer. The scenic highlight of the Marche for me was driving to the top of Monte Nerone, and the artistic highlight was visiting Urbino.
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Mediocre: 'The Noodle House', a pan-Asian place in the Emirates Towers shopping centre. Had quite enjoyed on previous trips, but the food seemed pretty bland and expensive when we went there this week. It was packed out, which I think may be part of the problem as the clientele are basically looking for a bit of fuel to accompany their drinks. Fun: 'Andiamo' in the Grand Hyatt. Very glitzy and fun location (rain-forest in the lobby), with tasty reasonably-priced Italian food. The restaurant is a bit naff and the food is by no means spectacular, but I was sold by the good bread (which they kept on bringing all evening), the excellent, grassy olive-oil, and the very good service.
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Nicola, Hibiscus would be a good choice for vegetarians and non-fish eaters. See my post earlier on this thread for an example of the kind of vegetarian dishes they offer. As Bapi suggests, the choice of dishes may not be that large, but I had the impression that they had included 2-3 vegetarian starters on the carte because we had warned them that we were vegetarian. Unfortunately, they will not offer a vegetarian tasting menu, which is a great shame because Claude Bosi cooked us a fantastic vegetarian degustation when he was at Overton Grange. The Merchant House is also fine for vegetarians, but I felt that they had made a bit less effort than some places when we went there as there was only one vegetarian main, and that was a goat's cheese gnocchi which was an accompaniment to a meat dish on the menu. That said, it was delicious and I hope I don't sound like I'm carping here as both restaurants are absolutely fantastic and deserving of their high status on this board (and with lesser guides out there...)
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Very, very good indeed: The French Bakery, just off the Defence roundabout, Sheikh Zayed Road. A really top-notch pattiserie with a large cafe attached. The pastries are made with top-notch ingredients (a real rarity in bakeries here), and are consequently rather more expensive than most, but they are most definitely worth it. All the chocolate pastries are excellent, with the millefeuille being the best I've tried. The strawberry cheesecake is good too. Mixed: Bice, in the Jumeirah Hilton. Plusses: great caprese with a huge and very, very fresh mozarella; a fun olive-oil promotion with an oil trolley brought to the table; tasty truffled ravioli. Minuses: expensive, for what it is; my gorgonzola salad had three small cubes of cheese amidst the leaves; the ravioli was advertised as having a fresh truffle element, which it most certainly did not have (black truffles from a jar and white truffle oil were used), and mine had a hair in amongst the ravioli...
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Another recommended Indian restaurant in Sharjah is Arab Adupi (they also have branches in Abu Dhabi and, I think, Al Ain). It is located just off Rolla Square, which is the heart of Indian Sharjah, and most of the clientele are Indian. It offers Chinese dishes as well as Indian, but I think the standout dish is the Tandoori Gobi - really hot and smoky sizzling cauliflower covered in a thick, flaky tikka paste.
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Further to Jonathan's comment on Maximin, we also found the welcome slightly chilly when we went there in the summer of 2002. We had booked a month or so in advance and checked that they could cope with vegetarians, then phoned up the day before to confirm both the booking and that we were vegetarian, and yet they still seemed rather surprised when we announced that we were vegetarian on the night itself. That said, after some toing and froing, they put together a really fantastic menu for us which was significantly cheaper than the other menus on offer (somewhere in the 60-80 Euro range). We also heard the chef bollocking someone in the kitchen, and wondered if it was because they had neglected to tell him about our preferences... The standout dish was a gratin of cocoa beans in cream and herbs, though the cheese course (which was not listed on our menu) was also great as it came with some lovely dried fruit and roasted garlic which oozed its juices. It sounds, Viking, as though you are very familiar with the cultural sights in the region, but let me just mention Matisse's Chapelle du Rosaire, if only so I can remind myself of how wonderful that place is, even in spite of the mobs of fellow tourists who were there along with us last summer.
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While this article makes some good points, my general impression is that it describes little that is really new and that its conclusions are very debatable ones. Its premise that there is a 'sense of place and regional diversity, central to the traditional sense of French identity', which is now being lost, could be contradicted outright, or challenged by asserting that this diminishment of regionality took place at some earlier point. It was after all the early administrations of the Third Republic which did their best to complete Napoleon I's project to centralize France, with the imposition of French as a single national language in all forms of government, promoted by a newly comprehensive schooling system delivered only through the medium of French. Before the 1870s, as Bourdieu argued in 'Ce que parler veut dire', there was no meaningful French identity, but rather a series of discrete regional cultures within the political boundaries of France. Alternatively, one might counter-balance Wilmott's assertions regarding the loss of regional diversity by observing that such diversity would now seem to be being promoted in a far more active way in France than has ever before been the case. This can be seen in the state's new tolerance towards regional languages such as Breton, the move towards self-government in Corsica, and the impact of EU policies on the protection of regional cultures (and the principle of subsidiarity more generally). This is not to deny that France and French food have not been undergoing the effects of modernization and urbanization observed in Wilmott's article, but these processes have been underway for quite some time. One might, I think, develop a case that French regionality is pretty robust and that there are reasons for feeling optimistic about the continuance of terroir-driven cuisines and wines.
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An interesting addition to the tomato/cucumber/feta/EVOO salads mentioned above is to also include black onion seeds/nigella.
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I have heard that Le Gallois is very good, but then I would say that wouldn't I? W. Gallois P.S. Not actually been there yet.
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Two more Exxie restaurants: 1. St Olave's Court: we had heard good things about this small, hotel restaurant both from friends and from reviewers (I think it scores something like a '5' in the Good Food Guide). The cooking is quite English in many ways, with many of the dishes based around local ingredients such as sea-food and cheeses. My favourite dish was a pudding of Pimm's jellies with shortbread and rasberry ripple ice cream. The selection of ice creams and sorbets was also good, with a fun cucumber ice. These were, however, two of the more outre items on the menu, which tended to be more restrained in general. Two courses costs £26.50, with three for £29.50. Service was very friendly, and my impression was that the wine list was much less of a rip-off than in most restaurants of this calibre. 2. The Conservatory: a restaurants about which there is a considerable buzz in Devon's capital. In part this is because they run a 'beat the clock' offer between 5.30 and 7.0 whereby selected main courses are charged at a rate which equates to the time they are ordered (so our party of four had three main courses for £6.43, and only one at the full price). Almost everything else about the restaurant screams 'individuality' from the decor (sort of children's fairytale in white pine), to the service (we learned to look this busy working in New York diners), to the rather meaningless note on the menus which went something along the lines of 'the people serving your food this evening are the people who own and manage this restaurant'. We only had mains and puddings, but I don't think it would be unfair to say that the food was more enthusiastic than refined. Most of the group did really like the food, but I felt it was a bit too casually chucked-together. Saffron and tarragon risotto was yellow and rather dry, whilst a vegetarian sampler dish contained a slice of bland goat's cheese on toasted baguette, a white onion tart on so-so pastry and a nicer tomato tart with chilli. Puddings were significantly better and more accomplished. I had a 'burnt lemon cream' which was a lemon creme brulee with fruit neatly burnt into the glaze, with blackberry sorbet in a brandy snap (generously included as it wasn't listed on the menu). I also managed to try a very good strawberry cheesecake. In time I could see the restaurant improving as they work out which of their dishes work, and which need to be abandoned.